Lottie laid the plate, wrapped in a tea towel, on the table. There was no sign of her mother. ‘Anyone home?’ she yelled.

‘I’m in here.’ Rose Fitzpatrick’s voice sounded weak.

Lottie went back down the hall and stood at the open door to her mother’s bedroom.

‘Have you been lying there all day?’

‘Nothing to get up for,’ Rose said, her mouth turning downwards.

With a disgruntled sigh, Lottie plumped up the pillows and straightened the duvet. Rose didn’t move. Stared straight at her. Shrugging off an unwelcome feeling, Lottie took a step away and said, ‘I brought over dinner. Are you hungry?’

‘Not if it’s a fry again.’

‘It’s lasagne. The kids cooked. It may be a bit hot.’

‘Better than being cold like it usually is.’

‘I mean spicy. I can throw it in the bin if you don’t want it.’

‘No need to be so sharp, missy.’ Rose dug her elbows into the bed and sat up. ‘I’ll have it here. And a cup of tea.’

‘Right so.’ Lottie stomped back down the hall.

The last few months had been difficult, as she tried to come to terms with her mother’s cataclysmic revelations. Their relationship had already been flawed, but now Lottie struggled to define exactly what Rose meant to her. If she wasn’t her biological mother, then what was she? A liar?

She poured water into a cup with a tea bag, swirled it around with a spoon, slopped in milk, and took it to Rose along with the plate of food.

‘Could you not find the tray?’

‘Jesus!’ Lottie said. ‘You ate your food from a plate on your knee yesterday. What’s changed?’

Rose was being awkward for the sake of it. To annoy her. Well, you’re winning on that score, she thought. She placed the cup on the bedside cabinet and sorted the plate with a knife and fork.

Rose leaned over and sipped the tea. ‘You forgot the sugar.’

‘You never take sugar.’

‘I do now. It might give me energy. Will you get it for me?’

Lottie bit her lip, silencing an impulsive retort. She watched Rose picking at the food. The once tall, vibrant seventy-six-year-old was now a shadow of that woman. Her hair, which used to stand to attention in short silver strands, was plastered to her skull, with white skin peeking out in places. Her head appeared to have shrunk with the rest of her body. Although Lottie tried hard, very hard, she couldn’t feel any love for the woman who had raised her, and who she had thought of as her mother for forty-four years. She couldn’t find forgiveness in her heart. But she knew it wasn’t this woman lying here that she couldn’t forgive. It was the woman Rose used to be. And it was the lie. She could never forgive the lie. Of course, she also knew that it was all her father’s fault.

Returning with the sugar bowl, she said, ‘You need to see a doctor.’

‘I’m not changing doctors at this stage of my life. I’ll wait until Dr O’Shea comes back to town.’

Lottie sighed. She had no idea when her friend Annabelle O’Shea would return to Ragmullin. She hoped it would be soon; she was running out of pills.

‘I don’t know how long she’ll be away, and this staying in bed all day is not normal for you.’

‘Not one day of my life has been normal since I married your father. So off with you. Go home and watch your children. And here.’ Rose handed her the plate of food. ‘I can’t eat this. It’s like the hide off a donkey.’

Lottie sighed. She could never win where Rose Fitzpatrick was concerned. ‘Do you even know what the hide of a donkey tastes like?’

She left without waiting for an answer.

---

‘You’re home early,’ Grace said with a smile.

‘Change of plans.’ Boyd took off his jacket and loosened his tie. ‘What are you watching?’

‘You’re changing the subject.’ Grace pressed a button on the remote and folded her arms as the television screen faded to black.

Boyd folded himself into his armchair, pulled off his shoes and nudged them under the coffee table in front of him.

‘Would you like—’ she began.

‘Don’t mention tea.’

‘I was going to ask if you wanted a drink.’

‘Yeah, great. Thanks.’

As Grace went to the kitchenette, she said, ‘I can assume things didn’t work out with the delightful Lottie Parker. And in case you have forgotten, I have yet to meet her.’

‘You don’t have to meet her. Anyway, her family had other things planned for this evening. I have to reschedule.’

Grace handed him a bottle of Heineken and sat down with a glass of Diet Coke for herself. ‘Reschedule? I thought it was a date, not a work meeting.’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘You should say what you mean.’

‘Don’t start.’

Grace sipped her drink with a smile. Boyd couldn’t help himself. He smiled too. His sister sounded so like Lottie, it was uncanny. And then in other ways she was a million miles removed from his boss.

‘You are a very lonely man,’ Grace said, pulling at her short brown hair.

Boyd glanced up. She was staring at him over the rim of the glass.

‘Where did that come from?’ he said.

‘I am astute, even though everyone thinks I’m stupid.’

‘You’re one of the most intelligent people I know.’

‘Thank you, brother dear.’

‘No need to be cynical.’

‘I don’t do cynical.’

Boyd sighed and took a swig of his lager. He thought of the way Lottie had rushed him out of her house. No matter what she said about her mother, no matter how confused she was over her parentage, she possessed an innate sense of duty of care to Rose. Family was everything to Lottie Parker, and he despaired that he could ever be part of that family.

‘You are lonely,’ Grace said.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I am not,’ he denied, a little too forcefully. ‘I like my own company and my own space.’

‘I won’t be here for long.’ Grace put her glass on the coffee table and picked up the remote control again.

‘I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Sorry. Believe me, I honestly didn’t mean that you’re in the way. I love having you here.’

‘You’re an awful liar.’

‘And you can’t lie to save your life.’

They both laughed.

‘True.’ She switched on the television. ‘I want to meet Lottie. You better organise it, soon.’

‘Okay.’

He sipped his beer. This was only the third day of Grace staying with him; there was still three and a half more weeks to go. He wondered just how he was going to put up with his sister sharing his home.